


Pride Comes Before a Fall

by RedAnthem



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death, Past Child Abuse, Pre-Canon, Racism, Southern Water Tribe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23459050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedAnthem/pseuds/RedAnthem
Summary: Across the shores of the Fire Nation, there's the son of a chief, his wife, his two children, and the brother his father favored, all thrown in the face of a disaster of his own doing. The story is the same, but not quite.
Relationships: Hakoda/Kya (Avatar)
Kudos: 9





	Pride Comes Before a Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This has been rattling around my brain for a while, so I thought, why not, now that I've got the time? Also, I'm not the world's best writer and this was definitely a spur of the moment sort of thing, so I apologize if there are any mistakes.

“I’ll give you… ah, 26 beads for this shipment of furs.” 

Hakoda had been in the middle of shouting orders to the dock workers, who were helping load cargo onto the trader’s boat. Nunivak was blessed with access to the Crescent Gulf, making trading by sea quite profitable, but good trade had its downfalls as well, like haughty Earth Kingdom traders who thought they could cheat a bunch of  _ less civilized _ tribesmen. At times, it felt like they were having their own competition between themselves. Who could screw the tribesman over more. One day, the value of a roll of skua fox furs wouldn’t be any less than 10 beads, the next day the traders wouldn’t take it for anything more than three. 

“What do you mean, 26 beads?” He was getting tired of this game. “Just a second ago you said at least a dozen more than that.”

“Listen, I’m being charitable by offering  _ that _ much, period.” The trader uncrossed his arms with a look that would be almost imploring if it didn’t also appear that he didn’t care at all about what Hakoda felt. “Here’s the deal-Water Tribe furs? Not very in style these days with those hoity toity noble ladies. It’s not my fault, it’s just market trends. Be grateful for what I’m offering to you. Besides,” he gave a polar bear dog’s grin, “I don’t remember offering a dozen more. You got that in writing?”

Hakoda didn’t. Usually deals between the Tribes were done by an honor system; a man’s word was a man’s word. There was no need to write such things down, a firm handshake was enough to seal a deal. But Nunivak was the  _ regional capital _ and don’t you know that foreigners do business differently and maybe Hakoda would’ve been wiser if he’d listened to his brother Hanta about these sleazy Earth Kingdom traders. Father would be upset to see his son act so imprudently. He might not trust Hakoda with managing such trades again if the costs of these mistakes added up. Hakoda inhaled, exhaled, and- 

“No. Take your damn furs.” 

“Careful, Hakoda,” the polar bear dog grinned. “Better not spurn all the business you have. The spirits know how much you tribesmen need it. Unlike those Fire Nation raiders, at least we pay you while we’re fucking you over.” 

He seemed to laugh at his own joke as he glanced back at the high walls of their village. They hadn’t had a raid in over a decade, and the village recovered as well as any, but the insult still pierced Hakoda like a cold knife to the gut.

“ _ You better watch your mouth. _ ”

“Or what? You’ve lost everything. Your people don’t even have your benders anymore, last I heard. Just what can the great Southern Water Tribe, home of weaklings and  _ personal bitch _ to Fire Lord Azu-”

Hakoda’s clenched fist moved independently of his mind, it seemed, to connect with the dog’s mouth. He stumbled backward, as nearby dock workers and sailors-both his people and Earth Kingdom-looked on with shock. Silence, tight and coiled, pulsed out of the spaces between Hakoda and the trader on the ground. Hakoda backed away; the man on the ground sneered.

“You don’t know shit. Our Tribe hasn’t lost  _ everything,  _ and you’d better pray your ship doesn’t crash on the next ice floe for that insult. Soon enough we’ll be better than we ever have before, and  _ we’ll _ be the ones offering you  _ spittle _ for fine furs.” 

The men nearby-he thought he could spot Akaka, or maybe that was Ikiaq, somewhere-groaned audibly into the cold wind.  _ The chieftain’s son is mad again, someone throw some ice water on him or he’ll melt the whole damn shelf. _

After the cold rush of anger passed over him, Hakoda remembered the trader was a customer, and he’d certainly blown it this time. Father wouldn’t be pleased to hear about this. He’d better control the damage while he still had the chance. He sighed into one hand and offered another to the man on the ground, who glared at it like he was offering him seal crap.

“Come on, he didn’t knock you out that hard,” one of the trader’s sailors passed by, laughing easily. Evidently, it wasn’t a rare sight to him, to see his boss get his teeth knocked in for how much his tongue wagged.

The man on the ground hoisted himself up with a pointed sneer at the sailor’s back.

“ _ 12 beads, _ and that’s final.” He stretched out his hand slowly.

Hakoda pursed his lips and grasped it.

“Deal.”

* * *

“Only  _ 12 beads?  _ Hakoda, what will Hanta say? No, worse yet, your  _ father?” _ Kya clutched her temples.

Hakoda knelt on the floor of their igloo. 

Minutes before he’d trudged into their home, and he thought he must’ve carried his troubled thoughts on his face, for as soon as he came in she ushered Sokka and Katara out to play on their own. He felt like a child, having to confess to his bad deeds as if it were pulling teeth. But he had acted rashly, so perhaps in some way the feeling was justified, although no less unpleasant.

“Oh, spirits, what have I done to deserve a husband with such a temper...”

“I’m sorry, Kya.”

“...Save it, Hakoda.” She held herself and looked at everywhere else in their home but him. Finally, her eyes trailed back, and found his again. He felt foolish. How could he let his temper control him like a teenager, when he had a woman, this beautiful woman, and two children who depended on him? 

“You’re better than that, Hakoda, and you know that.”

“I apologize for acting so thoughtlessly-”

“Hakoda, you have all the potential of a great chieftain, you know that?”

He paused, unsure of what to say to that praise, gritting his teeth. 

“Believe me. You do. Nobody else has the same passion, drive, or cleverness. Not your brother, not even your father.” Her deep blue eyes pleaded with him. “I just wish you used that cleverness of yours at times like this.” 

He sighed and held out his arms as if it were a treaty, and Kya crept forward and accepted them. He didn’t deserve her, he thought. She gazed up at him and placed a soft hand on his face, fingertips on his cheekbone, thumb barely brushing his lips. 

“Maybe Hanta will be able to soften the story for your father’s ears.” 

He grimaced at the thought. “I don’t need  _ Hanta _ to speak for me. I’m no child.” 

“Hakoda, your pride will be your downfall. Let him help you.”

Hakoda gently grasped her hand, and exhaled deeply. Confident her terms were accepted, Kya broke their embrace, and reached for his hands, which fell to his side.

“It’ll be fine. I assure you, it will.” 

Hakoda wished he possessed his wife’s optimism. But he knew his father too well, and could do little more than bury ancient anxieties down deeper into his gut. Hanta was always the favorite child. He was the first by many years, he had charisma, he was bound to become the next chief of the Nunivak territory after his father. If Hakoda could persuade Hanta, he might get out of the next encounter with his father without too much loss. But going to Hanta felt like giving up, admitting that Hanta had won some contest by his mere  _ being _ , a contest that Hakoda knew he himself had lost since the start. But Kya was looking at him with those pleading eyes, and giving into those eyes of hers never felt like giving up; they never made him feel weak, they made him feel as if she could radiate bravery, like sunlight, to his soul through a glance. He nodded his head and squeezed her small hands.


End file.
